James Bedell McKean (August 5, 1821 Hoosick,

Rensselaer County, New York Rensselaer County is a county in the U.S. state of New York. As of the 2020 census, the population was 161,130. Its county seat is Troy. The county is named in honor of the family of Kiliaen van Rensselaer, the original Dutch owner of the l ...

– January 5, 1879

Salt Lake City, Utah Salt Lake City (often shortened to Salt Lake and abbreviated as SLC) is the Capital (political), capital and List of cities and towns in Utah, most populous city of Utah, United States. It is the county seat, seat of Salt Lake County, Utah, Sal ...

) was an American politician from

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and

Utah Utah ( , ) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. Utah is a landlocked U.S. state bordered to its east by Colorado, to its northeast by Wyoming, to its north by Idaho, to its south by Arizona, and to it ...

Early life

He was one of the professors in Jonesville Academy for some time. He was the Superintendent of the Common Schools of

Halfmoon, New York Halfmoon is a town in Saratoga County, New York, United States. The population was 25,662 at the 2020 census. The town is apparently named for the shape of the lower elevation land north of the junction of the Hudson and Mohawk Rivers. It is also ...

in 1842. McKean was elected colonel of the One Hundred and Forty-fourth Regiment,

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, in 1844. Then he studied law, was admitted to the bar in 1849, and commenced practice in

Ballston Spa, New York Ballston Spa is a village and the county seat of Saratoga County, New York, United States, located southwest of Saratoga Springs. The population of the village, named after Rev. Eliphalet Ball, a Congregationalist clergyman and an early settler, wa ...

. He moved to

Saratoga Springs, New York Saratoga Springs is a city in Saratoga County, New York, United States. The population was 28,491 at the 2020 census. The name reflects the presence of mineral springs in the area, which has made Saratoga a popular resort destination for over 2 ...

in 1851. He was First Judge of the Saratoga County Court from 1855 to 1858. McKean was elected as a

Republican Republican can refer to: Political ideology * An advocate of a republic, a type of government that is not a monarchy or dictatorship, and is usually associated with the rule of law. ** Republicanism, the ideology in support of republics or agains ...

to the 36th and

37th United States Congress The 37th United States Congress was a meeting of the legislative branch of the United States federal government, consisting of the United States Senate and the United States House of Representatives. It met in Washington, D.C. from March 4, 1861, ...

es, and served from March 4, 1859, to March 3, 1863. He was Chairman of the Committee on Expenditures in the Department of State. During the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by states th ...

, he organized the 77th New York Volunteer Infantry, in 1861 and served as

colonel Colonel (abbreviated as Col., Col or COL) is a senior military officer rank used in many countries. It is also used in some police forces and paramilitary organizations. In the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries, a colonel was typically in charge of ...

of the regiment until July 27, 1863, when he resigned his commission due to poor health. He was appointed treaty commissioner to Honduras in 1865. In

1867 Events January–March * January 1 – The Covington–Cincinnati Suspension Bridge opens between Cincinnati, Ohio, and Covington, Kentucky, in the United States, becoming the longest single-span bridge in the world. It was renamed a ...

, he ran for

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on the Republican ticket, but was defeated by Democrat

Homer Augustus Nelson Homer Augustus Nelson (August 31, 1829 – April 25, 1891) was an American politician and soldier from the state of New York. He served one term in the U.S. House of Representative and was an officer in the Union Army during the first part ...

. He was appointed Chief Justice of the Superior Court of the

Utah Territory The Territory of Utah was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from September 9, 1850, until January 4, 1896, when the final extent of the territory was admitted to the Union as the State of Utah, the 45th state. ...

by President

Ulysses S. Grant Ulysses S. Grant (born Hiram Ulysses Grant ; April 27, 1822July 23, 1885) was an American military officer and politician who served as the 18th president of the United States from 1869 to 1877. As Commanding General, he led the Union Ar ...

in 1870 and served until 1875. In Utah history, McKean is famous for intensifying the federal government's efforts to abolish polygamy, which some members of the

Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, informally known as the LDS Church or Mormon Church, is a nontrinitarian Christian church that considers itself to be the restoration of the original church founded by Jesus Christ. The c ...

practiced as a religious doctrine until 1890. Evidence suggests McKean believed it was his moral and religious duty to wage legal war against the practice and that questionable tactics were justified if they helped him achieve his goal. Shortly after his appointment, McKean wrote to a friend, " e mission which God has called me to perform in Utah, is as much above the duties of other courts and judges as the heavens are above the earth, and whenever or wherever I may find the Local or Federal laws obstructing or interfering therewith, by God's blessings I shall trample them under my feet." During McKean's tenure in Utah, Mormon leader

Brigham Young Brigham Young (; June 1, 1801August 29, 1877) was an American religious leader and politician. He was the second President of the Church (LDS Church), president of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church), from 1847 until his ...

was indicted for "lascivious cohabitation," the federal government's strongest case against polygamy at that time. To ensure Young's and other Mormons' convictions, McKean essentially banned members of the LDS Church from serving on juries, a decision which the Supreme Court of the United States later ruled against. Consequently, all charges against Young at that time were

quashed Quashed (foaled 1932) was a British-bred and British-trained racehorse, winner of The Oaks in 1935. For many years, the Verdict family was not accepted into the British Stud Book because Quashed's dam was effectively a half-bred and it was ...

. McKean was interred in Mount Olivet Cemetery in Salt Lake City.

Samuel McKean Samuel McKean (April 7, 1787December 14, 1841) was an American merchant and politician from Burlington, Pennsylvania, who served as a Democratic member of the U.S. Senate for Pennsylvania from 1833 to 1839 and of the U.S. House of Representative ...

was his uncle.

References

Retrieved on 2009-04-17

Bio at On-line Biographies, transcribed from ''Our County and Its People - a descriptive and biographical record of Saratoga County, NY'' (The Boston History Co. Publ. 1899) ives, like all contemporaneous sources, Hoosick as birthplace; "Bennington" appears only from 1978 on, probably a listing mistake which has been copied and perpetuatedbr>''The New York Civil List''
compiled by Franklin Benjamin Hough (page 364; Weed, Parsons and Co., 1858) ives wrong middle initial "D." {{DEFAULTSORT:McKean, James B. 1821 births 1879 deaths People from Hoosick, New York American people of Scotch-Irish descent Republican Party members of the United States House of Representatives from New York (state) 19th-century American legislators Utah Territorial judges Chief Justices of the Utah Supreme Court 19th-century American judges People of New York (state) in the American Civil War Union Army colonels